


The Perils of Game Night

by starscrearn



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Breakdown and the Vehicons are only mentioned, Game Night, Uno ruins everything, rated for mild robot swearing i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 13:16:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12607484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starscrearn/pseuds/starscrearn
Summary: Everyone knows the best way to relax is with game night with friends, right? Too bad no one on the Nemesis can really get along!Or, Soundwave cheats at everything, Megatron is a sore loser, Starscream doesn't deserve it, and Knock Out is just trying to have a good time.





	The Perils of Game Night

Let’s clear one thing up right now: it’s Knock Out’s fault.

Well, technically, it came about as the result of an impromptu and unintentional alliance between Knock Out and Starscream, but it was ultimately Knock Out’s fault. After all, it had been his idea.

But we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves. To really get this right, we have to back up about one Earth month…

The concept of a “game night” isn’t a new one. But you can only play fullstasis with the same few bots so many times, and the Nemesis is one of the worst places to try to get a game of tear’n’chase going. Not only are there a limited number of decent places to hide that aren’t the vents, there is also a very good chance that if you go tearing around the corner, you’ll run slap-bang into Megatron.

Or Soundwave.

Or Starscream.

None of them are too happy about it, understandably. When you’re trying to sort out which reports go with which incident, the  _ last _ thing you want is a facial plate-full of excited Vehicon.

So as the ship’s medic, Knock Out takes it upon himself to find a new outlet for the troops, and the commanding officers. Surely he’d be able to find a few suitable Earth games for a little variation.

***********

Human poker is banned the first night they try to play it, after a Vehicon and Breakdown got into a physical altercation over a hand. The Vehicon accused their commanding officer of cheating, and Breakdown (who, truth be told, might have had a sip or two of high-grade in him) responded in kind. It got worse from there.

Through it all, Soundwave had been sitting calmly by, primly holding their royal flush and a pair of aces under their wrist plating.

Monopoly goes, if possible, even worse. When Knock Out takes stock of the injuries the next morning, he notes several dozen pounds of loosened or missing plating, no less than eight dislocated limbs, five damaged olfactory sensors, three busted optics, and one cracked helm.

The cracked helm belongs to one very disoriented Starscream, who’d caught the business end of a chair when he turned to find the source of a disturbance. Knock Out tries not to laugh as he patches the commander up and leads him out of the medbay.

He fails, earning himself a pained but powerful glare.

**********

Eventually they settle on Uno. Knock Out’s heard… rumors of the game’s ability to end friendships, but you can’t end something there aren’t very many of in the first place, right?

Wrong.

Knock Out would find that out much later.

He spends a good hour dragging tables and chairs into place in the rec room, carefully calculating the minimum safe distance between each cluster in order to maximize the number of possible games while hopefully keeping the number of injuries at an all-time low. With that done, he issues a ship-wide bulletin: Game night is back on. 

He sends another personal message to a few choice higher-ups (not Breakdown; he knows the big mech will be there), urging them to join in the fun. They need a break, he reminds them.

Radio silence. Go figure.

**********

That night, Knock Out seats himself across from Starscream, who is either irritably or nervously tapping his digits against the tabletop. To the commander’s left is Soundwave, one of the few bots trusted to shuffle the holocards.

The medic props his chin on his servo and shoots the commander a winning smile. “Well, we need a fourth--”

He’s interrupted by a broad, spiky shadow looming over the table. A servo reaches down, and  _ Lord fraggin’ Megatron _ turns out a chair for himself and sits.

Knock Out’s smile falters. “That’ll do. Good evening, Lord Megatron.”

The warlord is evidently not in the mood for small talk. “Soundwave, deal.”

Soundwave deals. The game starts in silence.

And continues in silence for several rounds. They form the one quiet island in the middle of a room already filling with angry, pleased, drunk, confused, or all-of-the-above voices. But when Soundwave doesn’t trouble themselves to speak, Starscream’s terrified of the bot to his right, and Megatron is--well,  _ Megatron _ , you don’t have much opportunity to strike up a conversation, and it’s in this unenviable situation that Knock Out finds himself, wracking his processor for something--anything--to say that’s not “nice weather today, huh?”

He’s close to comming Breakdown and asking him to fake an emergency when Megatron breaks the unspoken vow of silence to get the medic’s attention. “Knock Out, draw two.”

This is the first “frag you” card that’s been played all game. Knock Out grins, draws his cards, and plots his revenge.

With the seal broken, they actually manage to have something that can be generously called a conversation. Not Soundwave, though; they’re keeping their silence and gently rearranging their stolen cards.

Megatron lays down a card and growls out, “Uno.”

Knock Out meets Starscream’s optics over the discard pile. They share an unspoken thought-- _ No way am I letting Megatron win! _ \--and nod.

Knock Out can’t actually do anything other than play a skip card--it’s all he’s got that matches. He plays it reluctantly--he’s well aware that Soundwave is the mostly likely to be able to ruin Megatron’s hand. “Your turn, Screamer.”

The nickname earns him a Look. Then Starscream grins, which, depending on where you’re standing, is probably not something you want to see. He lays down another skip card. “Actually, it’s  _ your _ turn again.”

Knock Out swears, quickly shuffles through his cards, and pulls out his last skip card. “No, it’s  _ yours _ .”

“Megatron--” There’s a look of triumph in Starscream’s optics as he tosses a green plus two card on top of Knock Out’s matching skip card. “Draw two.”

Silence descends. Megatron places his last card face-up on the table in front of him. It’s a green seven. He places a servo under the edge of the table. (Starscream and Knock Out both brace themselves and prepare to evacuate the rec room.)

With a minimum of effort, Megatron flips the table.

Soundwave ducks and glides out of the way. Starscream shrieks and falls backward out of his chair, landing with a resounding  _ clang _ on his skid plate. Knock Out watches in dismay as his hand goes flying, along with everything else.

The entire room shuts up as the table hits the floor. Cards flutter back down around them. One catches on the points of Starscream’s helm before slipping down his chassis and Knock Out almost laughs. It’s Megatron’s card, the one he would have played if Starscream hadn’t dropped that plus two on him.

Megatron exvents hard, turns, and storms out of the rec room. A path clears for him, and twice mechs actually haul tables and chairs out of his way.

**********

The next day, a ship-wide bulletin goes out: Formal, large-scale game nights are hereby banned from the Nemesis.

**Author's Note:**

> This came about as a result of an uno game a while back with some people in my dorm that led to more or less this exact exchange, so you can thank them for this. Other than that, there's nothing much to say except that I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
